Survey By Irwin Mitchell Reveals Women More Open To Seeking Specialist Help To Avoid Divorce
A new survey has revealed that fewer than one in four couples seeks professional counselling to try to save their marriage when they are going through a difficult time in their relationship.Research by the specialist Family and Divorce Law team at Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, which has offices across the country found that while 37% of couples going through a rocky patch said they thought counselling would help, only 23% were actively seeking help.
The survey of 2,000 people also revealed that on average couples sought counselling for four months with 12% saying it helped to save their marriage. However the stats also showed that gender played a part in the difference in attitudes to counselling with 45% of females believing that it would help save a relationship compared with just 28% of men.
Both men and women agreed that they would confide in their best friend first regarding their relationship (33%) with 23% saying they turned to their mum for advice. Worryingly, 35% said they confided in no one – rising to 40% of men.
Just last month the Prime Minister David Cameron announced a rise in funding available for ante-natal counselling to £20m. This support will include relationship advice on the potential stresses of having children and health visitors will be asked to offer relationship support to new parents.
The Irwin Mitchell report also gave insight as to how hard couples are prepared to fight to save their marriage with 75% believing that people give up on relationships too easily and couples believing that they should try to save the relationship for at least 11 months on average.
Lack of communication was the biggest driver in break-down of marriages (40%) while 25% said that money worries and taking each other for granted were major issues.
Family lawyers also believe that counselling can play an important role in helping some couples to recognise that a relationship is irreparable.